JOC Staff | Nov 01, 2012 9:28AM EDT
China’s sovereign wealth fund has acquired a 10 percent stake in the company that owns London Heathrow airport, Europe’s fourth largest air cargo hub.
CIC International, a unit of China Investment Corporation, is paying £450 million ($725 million) for the shareholding in Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, previously known as BAA, whose other airports include London Stansted, the UK’s second largest cargo hub.
The deal will cut the stake of Ferrovial, the Spanish construction company that acquired BAA in 2006, to 33.7 percent.
In August, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund acquired a 20 percent stake in Heathrow in a $1.45 billion deal that is awaiting clearance by European Union regulators.
London Heathrow, which also owns Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, is currently negotiating the sale of London Stansted, which was ordered by UK competition regulators.
After the sale is completed, London Heathrow will account for more than 95 percent of the company’s revenue.